Sandy Lee

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to get clarification from the Minister. He indicates that he talks to the chairs of school boards and such. I hope he is not saying that the school board chairs or any of the education professionals have been telling him that the extent of needs for special needs funding is no more than 15 percent. I hope he is not saying that. If he is looking into this question, will he make a commitment that he will live up to the obligation to provide support to students who need it and that he will provide support to every student who needs it once he finds out what the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Minister read out the provision that states that every student who is in need of special needs support has to be receiving it. I suggest to the Minister and this government and even this Legislature that we are not living up to that legislative requirement, Mr. Speaker. There are many cases, and I am sure we could all name students from our very own region who, even from a layperson’s view, are in need of special needs and they don’t get them. There are students in our school system with autism without special needs support. Mr. Speaker, by writing...

It is amazing how some of the men could put their foot in their mouth. Sorry. Mr. Speaker, may I just take this opportunity to welcome the best friends of Yellowknife from Tlicho, Chief Leon Lafferty, Chief Gon and Chief NItsiza, as well as former Commissioner Dan Marion. I realize they have been recognized before, but I just want to send a special welcome as well as to our elders in our community, Mr. Ed Jeske and Bishop Sperry. It is always nice to see them. I hope they come every day and watch over us. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is indeed good to be back here and I also would like to welcome the new Member for Monfwi. It’s a real pleasure to have him, and I look forward to working with him in years to come.

Mr. Speaker, in the last six years that I’ve been here I’m very proud of the little part that I played in increasing the funding for our schools in general, especially in special needs funding. We tout the fact that we have reduced the PTR from 18 to one to 16 to one. We repeatedly talk about the fact that we increased the special needs funding from eight percent of the total school budget...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I appreciate the Minister’s willingness to do that but, for the record, I just want to state once again how disappointed I am that all the Cabinet Ministers responsible for their portfolio have been neglectful in looking at the things that are applicable to their portfolios in talking about the transfer of TTC. Now, when the Minister contacts the Alison McAteer House which is run out of YWCA, would he consider increasing the funding of this organization to compensate for the loss they will have, seeing that he is already well aware of the shoestring budget that they...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I have questions for the Minister of Justice and it’s in regard to the joint staff relationship between the YWCA and the TTC. Madam Speaker, I heard, with interest, the Minister’s statement earlier today about the new legislation, the Protection Against Family Violence Act, which is groundbreaking legislation that just got started in April. It’s going to take some time to get it working well and, as the Minister indicated in his statement, the YWCA is a key organization in implementing this legislation. It is a clearing centre in Yellowknife and...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to two members of the Range Lake North School parents advisory group for their distinguished and long volunteer services at the school.

Madam Speaker, on the first Wednesday of every month since becoming an MLA, unless I am out of town, I have attended the parents advisory group meeting at Range Lake North School and I was able to do that again last night. But this time it was a gathering of appreciation and farewell. Linda Corkal has served as the chair of the committee for the past 11 years. Sue...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. May I ask the Minister to make a commitment to do a thorough analysis of the impact of the transfer of TTC on the operation of YWCA, including the Alison McAteer House, and report to either the Social Programs committee or to this House as soon as possible? Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. The facts are that the three very specialized professionals such as a person involved in a project with child recovery or a person who works on teen dating, violence prevention and other specially trained people work in YWCA and they use the TTC as a place to practice their specialty. They also get up to one-third of their income working at TTC. Seeing as the Minister has already acknowledged the important role that the YWCA has to play in the implementation of this new act, what analysis, if any, has he done? If he has not done so already, would he commit to do that...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Thank you, colleagues. Madam Speaker, the teachers were mostly grateful for the leadership role they played in organizing a major fundraising event called Family Fun Night for the past 11 years. During that time they have raised thousands of dollars. Just last year I was there when we were able to give out $10,000 that we raised and distributed to teachers and students. I have to say I really enjoyed this process. Each teacher applied for money and we go around the table looking at the merit of each proposal. We talk around the table until we all achieve a...